Thursday, 28 January 2016

It's been a little while, but I haven't gone anywhere. It's time to kick FBN 2016 off (a little late, oops). I saw this demo posted, noting that it was members of the icelandic deathrock band, Börn (who I'm a huge fan of), playing hardcore punk. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but figured it'd be worth a listen. It was. Well, more like four listens. In a row. It's really fucking good. I guess I should be clear that this is nothing like Börn, unless you count the overall ominous feel; no post-punk here, just nasty, dark, dirty, hardcore punk.

I honestly had trouble coming up with comparisons for this band, because there's something really special about them that I can't quite put my finger on. My initial reaction was that they sound like an atonal Rudimentary Peni, but that doesn't quite cover everything that's going on here. There's much more of a contemporary dark hardcore punk feel to this, bringing to mind bands like Mocoso and Dregs; it's firmly rooted in hardcore punk, but has a lot of goth tinges to it (drawing especially from deathrock bands like Peni, Nerorgasmo, etc), combined with a very filthy, noisy presentation akin to raw black metal/punk bands (think Bone Awl, Sewer Drainer,etc). Note: definitely not saying this is black metal, because it's clearly not. The production isn't the only thing that's noisy on this, however. The guitar work is screechy and dissonant, while the bass is winding and melodic. I would compare the vast difference in bass and treble to Minutemen, but that is where the comparison between the two would end. The juxtaposing works incredibly well, highlighting each end of the spectrum while also allowing the low and high ends to compliment each other in a strange, sinister, cacophonous way.

Overall, this demo is fantastic and is one of a couple great things I've heard already this year. I would say I highly recommend it, but I feel I shouldn't have to since I just wrote a whole thing about why it's great and why I'm recommending it. So have at it.